Help-Portrait: Photographers Giving Back

Help-Portrait is a global movement of photographers, hairstylists and makeup artists using their time, tools and expertise to give back to those in need.  Usually held the first weekend in December, Help-Portrait events provide professional portraits and prints to those who do not enjoy the opportunity.

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For the last several years, my local photography club, the Sawtooth Photo League of Winston-Salem, has been participating.  This gallery features the portraits I took, with the help of my team, from our 2018 Help-Portrait session at Samaritan’s Ministries in Winston-Salem, NC.

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I encourage all photography clubs to join this important ministry.  Giving the gift of dignity, self-confidence, and self-worth was such a rewarding experience, especially during the holiday season!  Like most forms of giving, the giver gets back as much, if not more, than the recipient.  Getting started is easy!  Go here for guidelines.

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During our events, we run two teams.  Each team consists of a photographer, grip, capture and print technician, and traffic coordinator.  Each team has set up a portrait backdrop with light kit configured in a modified clam-shell setup.  The photographer’s camera is tethered to a laptop running Lightroom for capture.  After each session the technician allows the participant to pick their favorite pose to print.  We then print an 8.5×11 on a Canon Pixma Pro-100 and place in a clear sleeve.

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For the best viewing experience, please click on a portrait to see a higher resolution version. Thank you for stopping by, everyone please stay safe!

Cheers,

C. S.

W-S Bank Buildings: Monochrome or Color?

I initially processed these BB&T building and Wells Fargo Tower architectural compositions, from downtown Winston-Salem, with over-top-HDR color tonality. Afterwards though, I experimented with color luminosity settings in monochrome. The resulting monochrome tonality range is quite impressive, but the near abstract HDR color styling is kinda cool as well. What do you think?

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For the best viewing experience, click on an image to see a high resolution version. Or, visit my Winston-Salem Architectural Abstracts gallery.

Cheers,

C. S.

Giving Back: Moji Coffee and More

Over 70% of Americans with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) are unemployed.  As a means of giving back, I had an opportunity to use my photography skills to support a local non-profit coffee and pastry shop supporting the neurodiverse community.   My images were used for large partition panels in their second coffee shop location which opened this this weekend.

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Neurodiverity (noun): The range of difference in individual brain function and behavioral traits, regarded as part of normal variation in the human population; Neurodiversity is a viewpoint that brain differences are normal, rather than deficits.  It is a concept where neurological difference are recognized and respected as any other human variation.  Neurodiversity is the opposite of Neurotypical.

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Located in downtown Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Moji Coffee and More is a 501(c)3 non-profit established to provide meaningful, fulfilling employment to members of our neurodiverse community, to help bolster their local employment opportunities through life-skills and professional development training, and to show how they can provide meaningful and high quality services to our community.

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Moji (noun): is the “Jolt of joy you get when you make others happy”.

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The outside shots were taken at Artivity on the Green, a local art focused park in downtown Winston-Salem “A City of Arts & Innovation”. For both photoshoots, I used my Profoto B2 light kit.

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Below are some cellphone shots of the photo partition panels at the grand opening of Moji’s new location at the Forsyth County Public Library.

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Given Christians are in the season of Lent, I feel led to share my related lesson in humility. I find volunteering my photography often does not come with the expected degree of recognition or thanks. In these situations, I must remind myself the reason for giving back – our Creator has given me many gifts, which I should joyfully use to give back unconditionally to others. My reward is in heaven.

To see more from my photoshoots, click to visit Moji Coffee and More Gallery.

Cheers!

C. S.

Gallery Hop 4, The Dancers, pt 3

Closing out this DADA Gallery Hop series with photos of these cute children dancing to 60’s British Invasion songs for perhaps, the first time.  I think they liked it!

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Thank you for visiting my photo blog!

Cheers,

C. S.

Gallery Hop 4: The Dancers pt 2

In addition to the local British Invasion cover band, The GB’s, the May Gallery Hop appreciation for 60’s culture included these Go-Go dancers. With these compositions, I continued my study of pop art styling workflows, first featured in my previous post.

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Thanks for stopping by today! For the best viewing experience on a tablet or PC, click on an image to view a high resolution version from my portfolio site.

Cheers,

C. S.

Gallery Hop 4: The Dancers – pt 1

Going for a harder pop-art feel, I continued experimenting this week with several filter mash-ups.  This post features a blend of several cool posterization, solarize and other styling effects.

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For the best viewing experience, click on the image to view a high resolution version from my portfolio site.

Cheers,

C. S.

Gallery Hop 3: The Band

The May Gallery Hop featured live music from the GB’s, a 60’s British Invasion band based out of Winston-Salem. For this post, I wanted to come up with a pop-art photo styling technique. Over the last several days, I experimented with several filters in Filter Forge 7 and came up with a cool mash up starting with the Local Norm and Cold Fear filter presets.

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Thanks for taking time to visit my photo blog! Have a great week!

Cheers,

C. S.

Gallery Hop 2: Artist at ARTivity on the Green

Walking through the ARTivity on the Green urban park early Friday evening, I met Em, a graphic artist working on an elaborate pen an ink drawing. The park sits on N. Liberty St, one block over from Trade St, the heart of the Downtown Arts District.

Artist at ARTivity on the Green

Click on the image to see a high resolution version, and other pictures from past Gallery Hops. Have a great day!

Cheers,

C. S.

Gallery Hop 1: Girls Can Change the World!

I’m starting a series of street photography captures from my visit to the Downtown Art District Association (DADA) Gallery Hop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  This young street artist conveys an important and very relevant message!

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Click on the image to see the high resolution version, and other photos from DADA Gallery Hops.   Thanks for stopping by today!

Cheers,

C. S.